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🎯 IP Management Pulse #66
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Your inbox-insider from Prof. Wurzer every two weeks
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In corporate IP management, two developments are currently reshaping strategic decision-making: the growing integration of digital technologies into physical products and processes, and the increasing importance of intellectual property for scaling innovation.
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Technology companies are increasingly learning that IP control must extend beyond individual patents to the systems, data and partnerships through which innovation is commercialised. In photonics collaborations, companies must distinguish platform patents from optical process know-how and jointly developed applications, while physical AI initiatives require clear ownership of robotics architectures, control systems, training data and application-specific improvements. In bioengineering, digital twins can capture valuable manufacturing knowledge, making control over virtual models, production data and optimisation results strategically important. Digital MedTech acquisitions further show that enterprise value depends on whether patents, software, algorithms, clinical datasets and data usage rights can be transferred, integrated and commercially exploited after closing.
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The themes covered in this issue are not selected editorially. They are derived from the Open Foresight Board (OFB) Trend Radar and from ongoing discussions within the Open Foresight Board, where in-house IP experts continuously exchange perspectives on emerging developments and their implications for corporate IP management.
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The Open Foresight Board is part of the Open Foresight Program and brings together in-house IP experts to identify, discuss, and prioritise emerging developments in corporate IP management.
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This issue presents selected signals that make these developments visible in practice — not as isolated news, but as indicators of broader shifts that require strategic attention. Our aim is to provide orientation by connecting current events with the underlying changes they represent. Here are the hot topics from 16th of July 2026 – 29th of July 2026:
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NEWS
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Robotics, Physical AI and IP Control | Digital Twins and Bioengineering IP | Photonics Partnerships and IP | Digital MedTech Acquisitions and IP
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RESOURCES
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OFB Fireside Chat: Alternative Dispute Resolution | OFB Fireside Chat: Workflow Automation in IP
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DEEP DIVES
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The hidden risk of being “too objective” | What You Learn When IP Stops Being a Legal Department: The MIPLM 2025/26 in Six Modules
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IP MANAGEMENT LEARNINGS
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When AI Enters Patent Practice: Turning Efficiency into IP Governance
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🤗 🍵 I wish you an exciting and informative read. I look forward to your comments and our exchange on LinkedIn.
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Robotics, Physical AI and IP Control
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Discussions within the Open Foresight Board show that the value of robotics depends not only on AI performance, but also on how models interact with sensors, actuators and physical environments. Collaboration may accelerate progress while obscuring robot-specific ownership.
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Companies contributing robotic platforms, motion data or test environments should not assume that consortium participation protects strategic assets. Valuable IP may include control architectures, sensor fusion, manipulation routines, safety mechanisms and training data. The distinction between developing a general model and creating a deployable robot is strategically important.
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Companies should define IP governance before contributing hardware, software, data or expertise. This requires robust rules for background IP, joint inventions, model adaptation, system integration, safety validation, licensing and post-project access. Patent and trade-secret strategies must reflect how physical AI is embedded into robots and workflows.
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Japan Backs Noetra’s Robotics Initiative
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Japan has allocated ¥387.3 billion in first-year funding to Noetra, a 44-member consortium, to develop domestic foundation models for robotics. The programme combines shared computing capacity with Japanese manufacturing and automation expertise, but how rights in robot designs, control solutions, training data and improvements are distributed is not publicly disclosed.
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Expert perspective: Andrew Mears
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For Noetra, this means that the relevant IP position may arise not only in the foundation model, but in its translation into robot-specific sensing, feedback and actuation. Consortium rules should therefore distinguish shared model development from proprietary control architectures, training data, safety systems and application-specific adaptations.
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Background information on the IPBA Connect platform
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The New IP Decision Architecture of Robotics and Autonomous Systems on the digital IP lexicon 🧭dIPlex
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Digital Twins and Bioengineering IP
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Discussions within the Open Foresight Board show that the value of digital twins in bioengineering depends not only on accurate simulation, but also on who controls the model, production data and process knowledge within it. A virtual factory may become as important as the physical facility.
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Real-time data from cell production should not automatically be treated as neutral input for optimisation. Manufacturing parameters, robot movements, batch histories and quality testing results may reveal confidential methods for increasing cell yield, consistency and scalability. The distinction between operating a digital twin and obtaining rights to use its knowledge is therefore strategically important.
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Companies should define IP governance before connecting bioengineering processes with external platforms. This requires rules for ownership of the twin, access to key data, model training, software changes, process improvements and use after the partnership ends. Patent and trade secret strategies should also address discoveries generated through simulation.
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Pegatron and Locus Cell Build Smart Cell Factory
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Pegatron and Locus Cell have agreed to develop an AI-powered smart cell factory for cell therapy manufacturing. Pegatron will implement its Pegaverse digital twin system at the Zhubei site operated by Locus Cell to simulate a virtual factory model using production data, comprising both robot operations and manufacturing parameters, to optimise factory performance.
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Expert perspective: Anja Koller
Anja Koller shows in “The Power of Bioprocess Engineering” that industrial scale-up frequently requires additional process adaptations and can generate patentable innovations in cultivation, upstream and downstream processing and bioreactor operation.
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The Pegatron–Locus Cell digital twin may capture precisely this valuable scale-up knowledge. The partners should therefore allocate rights in the virtual factory model, manufacturing data, optimisation results and process improvements while preserving confidential know-how and continued access to the information needed to operate and further develop the production process.
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Background information on the IPBA Connect platform
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Why Traditional IP Advisory Models Fail in Connected Healthcare on the digital IP lexicon 🧭dIPlex
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Photonics Partnerships and IP
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Discussions within the Open Foresight Board show that commercial success in photonics depends not only on optical performance, but also on whether companies control the IP behind surfaces, laser processes, metrology, and integration. Partnerships may accelerate industrialisation while blurring ownership of essential know-how.
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In photonics, a platform patent is only one part of the competitive position. Beam shaping, interference patterns, surface structures, optical recipes, calibration methods and process parameters may contain proprietary knowledge. The distinction between access to a photonic process and the ability to reproduce it is therefore strategically important.
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Companies should establish IP governance before combining optical technologies, infrastructure and application expertise. This requires rules for background IP, joint inventions, process improvements, software, measurement data and confidential know-how. Agreements should determine who controls new use cases when photonic functions enter production.
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SurFunction and ZEISS Form Partnership
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SurFunction and ZEISS have entered a strategic partnership to scale functional metasurfaces based on SurFunction's patented ELIPSYS platform. The cooperation combines photonic surface processing with ZEISS' expertise in optics, metrology, quality, and industrial systems. The partners plan to develop and commercialise photonic surface solutions.
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Expert perspective: Michele Moresco
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This is directly relevant to the SurFunction–ZEISS partnership: the ELIPSYS platform patent is only one layer of value. The agreement should also distinguish background IP from jointly developed surface designs, fabrication recipes, metrology and calibration methods, allocate field-of-use and sublicensing rights and define access to process improvements after the cooperation ends.
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Background information on the IPBA Connect platform
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Why Green Tech Is Reshaping the Role of Intellectual Property on the digital IP lexicon 🧭dIPlex
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Digital MedTech Acquisitions and IP
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Discussions within the Open Foresight Board show that the value of digital MedTech acquisitions depends not only on revenue or market access, but also on whether the buyer controls the complete technology, data and rights behind a clinical solution. Acquiring a company does not secure every asset needed for manufacturing at scale.
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In precision diagnostics, value may be distributed across patents, software, algorithms, genomic datasets, laboratory processes and clinical evidence. Some assets may be licensed for defined purposes or limited by collaboration agreements. The distinction between acquiring shares and obtaining operational control of a technology is therefore strategically important.
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Companies should conduct IP due diligence before valuing digital MedTech targets. This requires mapping ownership, licences, employee inventions, data usage rights, freedom to operate and dependencies on external platforms. Integration planning should determine whether an acquired technology can be combined with the buyer's AI and data infrastructure without losing exclusivity or breaching obligations.
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Tempus AI Plans Personalis Acquisition
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Tempus AI has agreed to acquire Personalis in a US$1.5 billion transaction. The deal would integrate Personalis' NeXT Personal molecular residual disease technology, based on whole-genome sequencing and personalised tumour signatures, into Tempus' AI-enabled precision oncology and data platform.
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Expert perspective: Laura Johnson
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For the Tempus–Personalis transaction, this means that due diligence cannot stop at patents covering the diagnostic workflow. It should also verify ownership and transferability of software, genomic datasets, data usage rights and clinical evidence, identify third-party licences and confirm that these assets can be integrated into Tempus’ AI platform without losing exclusivity or breaching existing obligations.
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Resources on the IPBA Connect platform
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Beyond Patents: What the ASML–ZEISS Story Really Teaches About Sustainable Competitive Advantage on the 📝IP Business Academy Blog
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In the resources of the Open Foresight Program, in-house IP experts find structured insights and practitioner-driven analyses developed with and by the OFB members, highlighting emerging trends, strategic signals, and real-world implications for corporate IP management that can be translated into actionable guidance for their own organisations.
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OFB Fireside Chat: Alternative Dispute Resolution
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IP conflicts are rarely purely legal disputes. They can affect licensing relationships, collaborations, market access, supply chains, confidentiality and the ability to continue innovating while disagreement persists.
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The Fireside Chat will examine when negotiation, mediation, arbitration or expert determination may preserve more business value than immediate litigation. It will address dispute resolution clauses, evidence preparation, technical and valuation questions, confidentiality, escalation paths and the situations in which court proceedings remain necessary to protect exclusivity or secure urgent remedies.
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OFB Fireside Chat: Workflow Automation in IP
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IP workflow automation should improve more than speed. Companies need reliable systems that connect invention disclosures, portfolio reviews, contract checks, reporting and external counsel management with the strategic decisions these processes are intended to support.
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The Fireside Chat will explore process design, role clarity, data quality, organisational interfaces and appropriate control points for automation. It will also examine how AI can support document analysis, patent monitoring and reporting while maintaining confidentiality, output validation, traceability and clear human responsibility for consequential IP decisions.
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Visible Council - the IP Expert Branding Column
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The hidden risk of being “too objective”
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By columnist Giulia Donato, Branding & Communication Consultant at people and brand strategies
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IP experts often communicate so objectively that their distinctive value becomes invisible. Accuracy, balance and caution establish competence, but excessive neutrality can make experts appear interchangeable. Objectivity does not require avoiding interpretation; experts can explain which risks matter most, what developments mean commercially and which questions deserve attention. A recognisable point of view helps clients understand how an expert thinks, when their contribution is especially valuable and why they should be involved early. Strong positioning therefore connects facts with relevance and practical consequences across articles, presentations, profiles and pitches. Expertise becomes memorable when communication shows not only knowledge, but perspective.
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My Favorite from the 📝IP Business Academy Blog
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What You Learn When IP Stops Being a Legal Department: The MIPLM 2025/26 in Six Modules
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With 11 students statements of the 2025/2026 cohort
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The MIPLM 2025/26 presented intellectual property as a strategic business function rather than an isolated legal discipline. Across six modules, participants learned to connect IP with corporate strategy, valuation, innovation management, organisational design, management control and business development. The programme covered proactive portfolio design, intangible asset valuation, technology roadmaps, patent intelligence, integrated IP processes, outsourcing, agile project management, controlling and business models. Legal knowledge was embedded throughout, including IP ownership, enforcement, licensing, contracts, and risk and international IP systems. The central objective was to help professionals operate effectively at the intersection of law, technology and business, turning IP into sustainable competitive advantage and value.
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In the 📑IP Management Letter series, IP experts find case-based narratives that show how strategic IP management works in real companies and industries, with practical insights they can directly apply to their own portfolios and client work.
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When AI Enters Patent Practice: Turning Efficiency into IP Governance
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Artificial intelligence is transforming patent practice by accelerating research, drafting, translation, summarisation and administrative workflows. Its strategic value, however, depends on governance rather than automation alone. Used responsibly, it becomes part of a mature IP management system; used carelessly, it amplifies professional risk.
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